By Cal
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/103
Available until: Monday 10th May-Saturday 30th May at 7.30pm. Matinées on Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm.
Rocky Road is named after a type of cake. There’s a character in this play who makes cakes and it’s fair to say they’re definitely on a rocky road so it really is a brilliant title. Of course, most people have been baking cakes through lockdown and watching Bake-Off so you probably know all this already, but it’s a new one for me.
Zoe has moved into a new flat. She is told to collect the keys from another resident, Danny. She goes to his flat and tries to engage him in friendly conversation, seeming not to notice his strong hints that he’d actually quite like her to have left five minutes ago.
It’s not the most auspicious start to a new relationship, but Zoe clearly sees something beyond Danny’s unsociable ways and Danny slowly starts to open up a little bit. But maybe one of them is making a big mistake…
Shaun McKenna has written a tense drama with two really interesting characters. Although it’s clear from quite early on that something probably isn’t right, the script does keep us guessing about exactly what’s wrong and which of them is in the most trouble. Their dynamic is fascinating and I really wanted to know what would happen next.
Director Steven Kunis brings the play to life really well and although it might have been in the script, I love the idea of Zoe and Danny’s flat being exactly the same other than the position of the front door. In many buildings, the flats are laid out identically in terms of structure so once I’d realised Zoe wasn’t some sort of supernatural being with the ability to make herself invisible and walk through walls, using the same set worked really well and it was especially interesting when the stage operated as both flats at once, with the characters’ moving around the same space but completely unaware of each other’s presence because they weren’t in the same place. Ceci Calf designs the set and it’s set up cleverly. The cramped arrangement of the furniture really helps with the impression of one character trapping the other, giving them limited places to run to.
Tyger Drew-Honey (who was really lovely in the other shows I’ve seen him in) prowls around the set like a caged animal as Danny, but it’s not clear at first whether he is actually dangerous or simply someone with social problems who could turn out to be lovely if someone showed him a bit of understanding. Kirsten Foster (who appeared in one of my first ever online plays, The Show Must Go Online’s The Taming of the Shrew) is a talkative and slightly pushy Zoe. Both actors are compelling as they slowly reveal more about their intriguing characters.
A really interesting and genuinely unsettling play.
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